A highly selective eggshell Fischer-Tropsch catalyst has been fabricated via interaction of hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules on thermally treated silica gel. The physical interactions of the mesoporous silica support and the effect of catalyst preparation conditions on the performance of the cobalt/SiO2 were explored. It was found that dispersion and performance of the FT cobalt/SiO2 catalyst were significantly affected by the preparation technique used. In this study we focus on two key variables: the solvent used during the precursor loading and the calcination atmosphere. Silanol groups on the silica surface and near-surface regions can alter morphology and dispersion of the supported active metals. Solvents used for precursor such as water or alcohol attach to these silanol sites in specific configurations and compete with metal salts during ion exchange and adsorption. By fine tuning the solvent attachments on heat treated silica we have fabricated a cobalt/silica catalyst with high dispersion and low metal loads. Additionally, since silica has affinity for both polar and non-polar molecule depending on the surface conditions; this property has been exploited in preparing an engineered eggshell profile. This together with simultaneous calcination/ reduction in a dynamic hydrogen environment has been shown to further enhance dispersion and reducibility. Characterization techniques including BET, XPS, XRD, H-chemisorption and FTIR were employed. Catalyst activity, product selectivity, distribution and conversion were studied using a bench scale fixed bed reactor fitted with a GC/MS instrument.

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Ce travail de thèse repose sur l'étude d’un objet original : des particules solides poreuses imprégnées de liquide non volatil. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de démontrer le potentiel d’un tel système pour des applications innovantes dans le domaine du traitement de gaz en lit fixe en particulier. Le premier axe de recherche de notre travail concerne l’étude détaillée des processus d’imprégnation de particules de silice par un liquide. Une partie importante du travail est dédiée à la caractérisation des particules imprégnées par une méthode innovante basée sur la rhéologie des poudres très sensible aux changements de surface qui permet de décrire de façon précise l’état d’une particule imprégnée et de comprendre la dynamique du processus d'imprégnation. Une évolution en trois étapes est proposée : adsorption du polymère, infiltration dans les pores et enrobage de la particule. Une seconde partie concerne une étude des propriétés thermodynamiques de plusieurs systèmes liquide – gaz pour identifier le type d’application et le type de composés pour lesquels ce système pourrait s'avérer intéressant. Le système N2-CO2 avec une amine polymère a été choisi pour l’étude expérimentale. Dans la dernière partie, un modèle du procédé est présenté pour simuler les performances de nos particules imprégnées en lit fixe. Ce modèle est validé avec nos résultats expérimentaux. L'objectif de ces simulations est d'identifier les conditions opératoires optimales des différents cycles d'absorption-désorption pour lesquelles les pourcentages de récupération et de concentration du CO2, pour notre application expérimentale, sont maximaux / This work is about an original object: porous particles impregnated with a non volatile liquid. The aim of this work is to show the potential of such a system for applications in the area of gas treatment on fixed beds. The first part of our work is dedicated to the impregnation process and the characterization of such particles by an innovative technique based on powder rheology. This technique is very sensitive to changes on the surface of the particles and helps to understand the impregnation process. Three stages of impregnation are proposed: adsorption of the polymer, filling of the pores and coating of the outer surface. The second part is focused on a thermodynamic study of the properties of some gas-absorbent systems in order to identify the systems for which the retention capacity would be important. The absorbents are compared to activated carbon. A system N2-CO2 with a polymer amine was selected to impregnate the particles and carry out the experimental tests. A model of the process is presented in order to simulate and anticipate the performance of the particles for different operating conditions. The goal of this simulation is to identify the optimal conditions for the absorption-desorption cycles in which the values of recuperation and concentration of CO2 would be maximal

Grande parte das indústrias alimentícias, principalmente as que utilizam processos fermentativos, geram efluentes com altas concentrações de material orgânico e nutrientes (principalmente de nitrogênio), necessitando de sistemas complexos para o seu tratamento. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho foi proposto com o intuito de desenvolver um sistema compacto que possa operar como única unidade de tratamento de águas residuárias industriais, tanto na remoção de matéria orgânica quanto na remoção de nitrogênio, com baixo consumo de energia e baixa produção de lodo. Constatou-se, portanto, a viabilidade técnica do reator combinado anaeróbio-aeróbio vertical de leito fixo para o tratamento de efluentes industriais contendo matéria orgânica (1400 mg DQO/l) e nitrogênio (160 mg N/l). A melhor condição operacional do reator foi conseguida aplicando-se tempo de detenção hidráulica (TDH) de 35 h (21 h na zona anaeróbia e 14 h na zona aeróbia), com base no volume útil do reator, e razão de recirculação (R) igual a 3,5, apresentado eficiências na remoção de DQO, NTK e NT de 97%, 94% e 77%, respectivamente, com concentrações efluentes médias de 36 '+ OU -' 10 mg DQO/l, 2 '+ OU -' 1 mg N-'NH IND.4' POT.+'/l,8 '+ OU -' 3 mg N-org/l, 1 '+ OU -' 1 mg N-'NO IND.2'POT.-'/l e 26 '+ OU -' 23 mg N-'NO IND.3'POT.-'/l. O reator vertical de leito fixo, operando unicamente em condição anaeróbia, apresentou eficiências médias na remoção de DQO de 43 '+ OU -' 9%, 60 '+ OU -' 9% e 70 '+ OU -' 6%, respectivamente para TDH aplicados de 11 h, 17 h e 21 h / Most of the food industries, mainly the ones that use fermentative processes, generates effluent with high concentrations of organic matter and nutrients (nitrogen mainly), needing of complex systems for its treatment. In this direction, the present work was considered to develop a compact system that can operate as only unit of industrial wastewater treatment, in the removal of organic matter and nitrogen, with low consumption of energy and low sludge production. Therefore, the viability of the upflow anaerobic-aerobic combined fixed bed reactor for the treatment of industrial effluent with organic matter (1400 mg COD/l) and nitrogen (160 mg N/l) was evidenced. The best operational condition of the reactor was obtained applying 35 h of hydraulic retention time (21 h in the anaerobic zone and 14 h in the aerobic zone) and recycle ratio (R) of 3.5. In this condition, the COD, TKN and TN efficiencies removal were of 97%, 94% and 77%, respectively, with average effluent concentrations of 10 '+ OU -' 36 mg COD/l, 2 '+ OU -' 1 mg N-'NH IND.4'POT.+'/l, 8 '+ OU -' 3 mg N-org/l, 1 '+ OU -' 1 mg N-'NO IND.2'POT.-'/l and 26 '+ OU -' 23 mg N-'NO IND.3'POT.-'/l. The up-flow fixed bed reactor, operating only in anaerobic condition, presented average efficiencies in the COD removal of 43 '+ OU -' 9%, 60 '+ OU -' 9% and 70 '+ OU -' 6%, for HRT applied of 11 h, 17 h and 21 h, respectively

A presente pesquisa avaliou diferentes razões de recirculação do meio líquido com a finalidade de identificar a melhor condição de mistura para uma produção elevada e contínua de hidrogênio em um reator anaeróbio de leito fixo com fluxo ascendente alimentado com um meio contendo sacarose como fonte de carbono e uréia como fonte de nitrogênio. Foi utilizado polietileno de baixa densidade como meio suporte para imobilização da biomassa. O experimento foi iniciado com ensaios hidrodinâmicos (pulso, utilizando dextran blue como traçador) que determinaram as seguintes razões de recirculação em relação à vazão de alimentação utilizadas: R = 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 e 2,0. O experimento foi realizado em duas etapas, nas quais foram operados dois reatores idênticos simultaneamente, testando-se duas razões de recirculação diferentes. A DQO da água residuária foi de 2000 mg/L. O tempo de detenção hidráulica teórico foi de 2 horas e a temperatura foi mantida em 25 graus Celsius. A remoção de sacarose apresentou valores médios de 67%, 79%, 71% e 70% para R = 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 e 2,0, respectivamente. Os valores médios de rendimento de hidrogênio foram 1,14 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac, 1,43 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac, 1,34 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac e 0,86 mol \'H IND.2\'/.mol sac e de produção volumétrica de hidrogênio foram 74,34 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L), 124,78 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L), 96,57 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L) e 73,49 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L) para as vazões de recirculação de 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 e 2,0, respectivamente. O biogás produzido foi composto de \'H IND.2\', e \'CO IND.2\', com valores percentuais médios para \'H IND.2\', de 50%, 56%, 56% e 46% para R = 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 e 2,0, respectivamente. Não houve presença de metano em nenhuma fase de operação. Os principais produtos intermediários produzidos durante a produção de \'H IND.2\', foram ácido acético, ácido butírico e etanol, de forma similar para todas as fases de recirculação. Analisando todos os parâmetros de operação, foi possível notar que a melhor vazão de recirculação obtida foi de R = 0,5. Ajustando os dados obtidos a uma função polinomial, porém, chegou-se a um ponto de ótimo em R = 0,6. Durante os experimentos observou-se uma queda na produção do biogás, provavelmente por atuação de microrganismos consumidores deste. / The present research evaluated different recirculation rates of the liquid medium for the purpose of identify the best mixture condition for a high and continuous hydrogen production in an anaerobic upflow fixed-bed reactor fed with a medium containing sucrose as carbon source and urea as nitrogen source. Low density polyethylene was used as medium for biomass immobilization. The experiment began with hydrodynamic tests (pulse, using dextran blue as tracer) which led to the following recirculation rates related with the feed flow rate used in this work: R = 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 and 2,0. The experiment was conducted in two stages, where two identical reactors were operated simultaneously, by testing two different recirculation rates. COD from wastewater was 2000 mg/L. The theoretical hydraulic retention time was 2 hours and the temperature was maintained at 25 Celsius degrees. The average values of sucrose consumption were 67%, 79%, 71% and 70% for R = 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 and 2,0, respectively. The average values of hydrogen yield were 1,14 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac, 1,43 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac, 1,34 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac and 0,86 mol \'H IND.2\'/mol sac and of hydrogen production rate were 74.34 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L), 124.78 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L), 96.57 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L) and 73.49 mL \'H IND.2\'/(h.L) for recirculation rates of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0, respectively. The biogas produced was composed by \'H IND.2\', and \'CO IND.2\', with average values for \'H IND.2\', of 50%, 56%, 56% and 46% for R = 0,25, 0,5, 1,0 and 2,0, respectively. Methane was not detected. The main intermediate products produced during the hydrogen production were acetic acid, butyric acid and ethanol, similar in all stages of recirculation. Analyzing all operating parameters, it was identified that the better recirculation rate obtained during the experiments was R = 0.5. Adjusting all data obtained with a polynomial function, it was found an optimal recirculation rate of R = 0.6. During the experiments there was a drop in biogas production, probably by the activity of microrganisms consumers of this biogas.

"Multitubular packed bed reactors with low tube-to-particle diameter ratios (N) are especially selected for strongly endothermic reactions such as steam reforming and propane dehydrogenation. For low N tubes, the presence of the wall causes changes in bed structure, flow patterns, transport rates and the amount of catalyst per unit volume. In particular, the particles close to the wall will behave differently to those inside the bed. The problem is that, due to the simplifying assumptions, such as uniform catalyst pellet surroundings, that are usual for the current pseudo-continuum reactor models, the effects of catalyst pellet design changes in the near-wall environment are lost. The challenge is to develop a better understanding of the interactions between flow patterns, species pellet diffusion, and the changes in catalyst activity due to the temperature fields in the near wall region for the modeling and design of these systems. To contribute to this improved understanding, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to obtain detailed flow, temperature, and species fields for near-wall catalyst particles under steam reformer and propane dehydrogenation reactor inlet conditions. As a first step, a reduced size model was generated by only considering a 120 degree segment of an N = 4 tube, and validated with a larger size complete bed model. In terms of the flow and temperature contours and profiles, the complete tubes can be represented well by the reduced size models, especially focusing on the center particles positioned in the middle of the near wall region. The methane steam reforming heat effects were implemented by a user-defined code with the temperature-dependent sinks in the catalyst particles, near to the pellet surfaces for different activity levels. For the sinks terms, bulk phase species concentrations were used in the reaction rates, and with the reaction heat effects inclusion, significant pellet sensitivity was observed with different activity levels. Furthermore, non-symmetric temperature fields in and around the near wall particles were noticed as contrary to the conventional approach. In order to focus on the 3D intra-pellet distributions of temperature and species, diffusion and reaction were coupled to the external flow and temperature fields by user-defined code. Strong deviations from uniformity and symmetry on the temperature and species distributions existed as a result of the strong wall heat-flux into the particles Additionally, the pseudo-continuum type of packed bed model was created, which considers the simplified environment for the reacting particles. The results obtained by the diffusion reaction application in the 3D discrete packing model could not be re-produced by the conventional simplified pseudo-continuum approach, no matter which parameter values were chosen for the latter. The significance of these observations is that, under the conventional assumption of symmetric particle surroundings, the tube wall temperature and reaction rates for catalyst particles can be incorrectly evaluated and important design considerations may not be well predicted, thus, negative consequences on the plant safety and efficiency may be observed. "

Este trabalho apresenta uma avaliação dos parâmetros cinéticos, hidrodinâmicos e de transferência de massa de um reator radial aeróbio-anóxico de leito fixo, em escala piloto, com biomassa imobilizada em espuma de poliuretano e alimentado com efluente de um reator anaeróbio horizontal de leito fixo que tratava esgoto sanitário. Os parâmetros estimados demonstraram que as resistências líquido-sólido e intraparticular afetam significativamente a velocidade global de consumo de oxigênio no sistema de leito fixo e que a agitação mecânica pode minimizar essas resistências. Os valores de (KLA), para velocidades superficiais de ar entre 0,14 e 0,95 cm.s-1, variaram na faixa de 20,8 e 58,8 h-1 para água do sistema de abastecimento público, e 16,8 a 53,0 h-1 para esgoto pré-tratado anaerobiamente. A velocidade intrínseca de consumo de oxigênio foi estimada em 19,9 mgO2.g SSV-1.h-1. A velocidade de remoção de DQO pôde ser representada pelo modelo cinético de primeira ordem com residual e a conversão de nitrogênio seguiu modelo de reações em série, de pseudo-primeira ordem, com valores das constantes cinéticas k1 e k2 iguais a 0,251 h-1 e 6,624 h-1, respectivamente. O comportamento hidrodinâmico pôde ser representado pelo modelo de 3 e 4 tanques de mistura completa em série. Foi possível promover a nitrificação e desnitrificação no reator radial aeróbio-anóxico mantido parcialmente aerado, com tempos de detenção hidráulica de 3,3 horas na zona aeróbia e 2,7 horas na zona anóxica, e com adição de etanol como fonte externa de carbono. O efluente apresentou valor médio da DQOf de 52 mg O2.l-1, e concentrações de 2 mg N.l-1, 1,24 mg N.l-1 e 3,46 mg N.l-1, respectivamente, para nitrogênio amoniacal, nitrito e nitrato. / The assessment of hydrodynamics, mass transfer and kinetic parameters of a pilot fixed bed reactor containing immobilized biomass in polyurethane matrices and fed with the effluent of a horizontal-flow fixed bed anaerobic reactor that treated domestic sewege is presented. For oxygen, the estimated parameters showed that the liquid-solid and intra-particles resistances significantly affected the global substrate consumption velocity. It was also found that mechanical agitation can minimize such resistances. The KLA values for superficial velocities between 0.14 and 0.95 cm.s-1 varied from 20.8 to 58.8 h-1 for tap water, and 16.8 to 53.0 h-1 for the anaerobic pre-treated effluent. The oxygen consumption intrinsic velocity was estimated in 19.9 mgO2.gSSV-1.h-1. The COD removal velocity could be represented by a first order kinetic model with residual, while nitrogen conversion followed an also a first order reactions in series model, with kinetic constants k1 and k2 of 0.25 h-1 and 6.62 h-1, respectively. The hydrodynamics behavior could be represented by the model of three to four completely mixed reactors in series. It was possible to promote nitrification and the denitrification in the radial reactor kept partially aerated and operated at hydraulics detention times of 3.3 hours and 2.7 hours in the aerobic and anoxic zones, respectively. The radial reactor effluent presented COD of 52 mg.l-1, based on filtered samples, and concentrations of 2 mg N.l-1, 1.24 mg N.l-1, and 3,46 mg N.l-1 for ammonia nitrogen, nitrite and nitrate, respectively.

Global warming along with the climate change derived from the World's demand for energy are among the greatest challenges to our society. To tackle climate change issue, research must focus on proposing practical approaches for carbon emissions reduction and environmental remediation. This thesis focuses on carbon dioxide separation mainly from flue gases (major sources of carbon dioxide emissions) using metal organic frameworks (MOFs) to reduce its impact on the global warming hence the climate change. MOFs are a class of crystalline porous adsorbents with structures that attract CO2 selectively and store it in their porous frameworks. Over the course of this PhD research, the fundamental aspects of these materials, as well as their practical applications, have been investigated. For example, the synthesis recipe of copper (II) benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate (CuBTC) MOF was improved to deliver a product of high yield ( > 89%) and free of by-product. Also, a mechanism study on the hydrothermal stability CuBTC MOF was carried out under simulated flue gas conditions and delivered the first experimental proof of the decomposition mechanism of CuBTC MOF caused by the water vapour. The fundamental understanding of the stability of materials then motivated the research into the development of a facile method of using an economic functional dopant (i.e. glycine) to strengthen the structure of CuBTC MOF (completely stable towards water vapour), as well as to improve the selectivity of resulting materials to CO2 (by 15% in comparison to the original CuBTC MOF). The suitability of the CuBTC MOF for fixed bed adsorption processes was also assessed using a combined experimental and process simulation method. In addition to the experimental approaches, molecular simulation based on grand canonical Monte Carlo method was also used to understand the effect of structural defects of MOFs on the CO2 adsorption isotherms.